Busch to marry this weekend

July off weekend special for groom-to-be Busch
By Dave Rodman, NASCAR.COM
July 24, 2006
10:11 AM EDT (14:11 GMT)

Off weekends from Nextel Cup racing are few and far between, but 2004 series champion Kurt Busch has managed to make the most of his recent ones.

The latest chapter comes this weekend, when Busch plans to wed his fiancée, Eva Bryan.

Eva Bryan will give Kurt Busch a wedding ring to go along with his championship ring. Credit: Autostock

"The schedule dictates when we have the wedding," Busch said. "We've got it this year with the off weekend between Pocono and Indianapolis. I'm a little bit of a romantic the way I proposed to her, the way we're getting married.

"We met on a blind date. It was on this same off weekend three years ago. Last year, which would have been two years into us dating, is when I decided we'd go to Europe for a quick vacation and I proposed to her in Prague.

"Everything turns right around this off weekend for us [but] that's just the way the NASCAR schedule is. My fiancée said she wanted a summertime wedding, so that's what Eva will get."

Busch, known for aggressive driving when it's called for and on-air histrionics while on the racetrack, is playing it more low-key than he should in this case.

Busch and Bryan are planning no ordinary summertime wedding -- though the original plans have hit a snag.

"I should have fired the wedding planner three times already, but we still have her," Busch said recently, laughing all the while. "We go and pay for permits to do everything out on the beach. Then to find out we can't do it out on the beach from environmentalists -- that was a tough blow to Eva.

"To have her crying on my shoulder one night that she didn't quite get her dream wedding out on the beach was tough. I thought that was more the wedding planner's fault than anybody's.

"Environmentalists have gotten hold of different things [and] now we can't do anything out on the beach [or] in the beach area because of Tiger Beetles, whose big mating season is June and July.

"We love the way things are going, though. We've got everything planned on the front porch [of a Bryan family friend's home]. We're going to have the ceremony there and then we'll have the reception out in the backyard.

Then comes the honeymoon.

"We'll actually have a few days," Busch said. "Eva and I went between the California and Vegas races to Cabo, down in Mexico. That's what I called the pre-honeymoon [when] we had four or five days there.

"We'll have three or four days after the wedding to go to a deserted island somewhere and just do nothing."

But first for Busch, is the big event.

"Everything has happened on this off weekend for us the past three years," Busch said. "So I can't wait to come back to Indianapolis as a married man and see how I race with that wedding ring on."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

how does a dork with such a crappy attitude and temperment get a babe like this? MONEY!!!!

Silly Season Is Upon Us!

Sadler out at RYR as of Monday? Gilliland in at MIS? UPDATE: Elliott Sadler cleaned out his locker Monday at Robert Yates Racing, clearing the way for David Gilliland to take over the #38 M&M's Ford. Gilliland, 30, will make his second Nextel Cup start, his first for RYR, Sunday in the GFS Marketplace 400 at Michigan International Speedway. Gilliland's name has been painted on the #38 M&M's Ford Fusion, and all signs point to a formal announcement within days. Gilliland will be in the car as early as Tuesday for testing at Kentucky Speedway. Sadler most likely will be released from his contract with RYR this week, and he is expected to take over the #19 Dodge Dealers Dodge at Evernham Motorsports, which became open when Jeremy Mayfield was released last week.(Sporting News/Greg Engle), Todd Parrott is expected to take over #38 crew chief duties at MIS. An announcement was expected on Monday, August 14th, but it didn't happen.

It's Official! Sadler to the #19 car

OFFICIAL: Evernham Motorsports announced today that it has named Elliott Sadler to drive the #19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger beginning this weekend at Michigan International Speedway. Sadler, who had his first win at Bristol in 2001, has three career wins, seven poles and 16 top fives in 271 starts, brings his hard-charging driving style, fun-loving personality and broad fan appeal to Evernham’s three-car NASCAR Nextel Cup program. He joins Kasey Kahne, driver of the #9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger and Scott Riggs, driver of the #10 Valvoline/Stanley Tools Dodge Charger. The 31-year-old native of Emporia, VA, will start his career at Evernham Motorsports this weekend in the backyard of his new primary sponsors – Dodge and the Dodge Dealers. While the terms of his relationship with Evernham Motorsports were not announced, he does have a long term commitment to the program.

Jeremy Mayfield claims in court documents that team owner Ray Evernham's "close personal relationship" with development driver Erin Crocker distracted his team and kept the owner from being an instrumental part of the No. 19 Nextel Cup team, whose struggles this year eventually led to Mayfield's firing.

Mayfield made that allegation in his lawsuit against Evernham Motorsports filed Aug. 9 in North Carolina Superior Court in Iredell County after Evernham Motorsports informed Mayfield Motorsports Inc. on Aug. 7 that Mayfield would not drive the car in the Aug. 13 race at Watkins Glen. Evernham responded in an affidavit that he has worked diligently to make sure that the No. 19 team had the personnel and resources to be successful.

In the complaint filed with the court, Mayfield and Mayfield Motorsports Inc., which handles the driver's business affairs, claim: "For significant periods of time [Evernham] has been, at best, an absentee manager and owner, largely because, ... at some point in time Ray Evernham had entered into an [sic] close personal relationship with a female driver he engages to drive on NASCAR's ARCA, truck and Busch Series. That relationship became a subject of considerable discussion and distraction in the Nextel Cup garage area during the 2006 season."

Dale Cagle, business manager for Mayfield Motorsports Inc., said in his affidavit that leadership and support from Evernham was instrumental to the team.

"During the 2006 season, however, apparently because he was preoccupied by his personal relationship with a female driver Evernham engaged to drive on the ARCA, Busch and Truck Series, Ray Evernham has not been actively involved or engaged in the affairs or operation of the team," Cagle said in his affidavit.

The complaint does not name Crocker, but she is the only female driver employed by Evernham in those series. It does not define "close personal relationship."

Evernham did not address that in his affidavit filed in the case.

Both sides say they have settled the case, but it was still listed as "pending" in the court system Tuesday morning.

An Evernham Motorsports spokesperson said Wednesday that Evernham would not comment on his personal life. Cagle, Mayfield's business manager, did not return a phone call seeking comment on the suit.

"My effort this year on behalf of Evernham Motorsports and all my teams, including the No. 19 Dodge team, has represented my best efforts," Evernham says in an affidavit, adding that he has taken only eight days off this year and had been to 18 of the 21 Nextel Cup races that Mayfield participated in.

Evernham's other teams have performed much better than Mayfield. Kasey Kahne has four wins and sits 11th in points. Scott Riggs is 22nd in points.

Mayfield is being replaced by Elliott Sadler, who is leaving Robert Yates Racing to join the No. 19 team this weekend at Michigan.

Mayfield is one of only seven drivers to have made the Chase in its first two seasons, but he was mired in 34th in points this year before his termination by Evernham Motorsports.

In his affidavit, Evernham stated that Mayfield breached their contract, in part, because Mayfield "failed to use his best diligent efforts to compete professionally in the Nextel Cup Series" and "Mayfield disparaged the Evernham team and me personally."

Evernham said that Mayfield inexplicably pitted late in the Pocono race July 23 because of a flat tire that turned out to have nothing wrong with it. He also said that Mayfield brushed the wall at Indianapolis and "based on my experience, I believed that Mayfield's conduct in wrecking the car was on purpose."

The wreck relegated Mayfield to a 41st-place finish at Indianapolis and dropped the team out of the top 35 in owners points, meaning the team was not automatically qualified for the next event.

Mayfield countered that no driver would ever wreck a car on purpose because of the possibility of injury, and he found it "terribly distressing" that anyone would suggest he wasn't giving a full effort. He said that it is not unusual for a driver to feel a tire is going down only to find out it wasn't flat.

"If I have been 'tanking' the performance of the car, it must have started with the first race of the season because car performance has been equally terrible all year," Mayfield says in his affidavit. "The cars have not been good, and the engines, particularly recently, have been weak."

Later, Mayfield says, "If anyone is 'tanking' the No. 19 car, it is Evernham Motorsports." He said the team did not listen to his suggestions on setups during the Indianapolis weekend.

The rift between the two dates back to the end of last season when Mayfield said that while he publicly supported Evernham's move, he was "stunned by the decision" for his crew to go to Kahne for 2006 and "it's been a disaster since."

Evernham said the move was necessary to help Mayfield.

"Mayfield, however, has not interacted well with other personnel on his team at Evernham Motorsports and has had five crew chiefs in five years because of his inability to get along with them," Evernham stated in his affidavit.

The rift between owner and driver erupted at the Chicago race weekend July 10-12, when Mayfield said he had not seen a lot of Evernham lately despite the team's struggles. The two appeared at a joint news conference two days after Mayfield's remarks to diffuse the situation.

In trying to collect his salary from last season, banned driver Shane Hmiel has had to admit that he violated NASCAR's substance abuse policy with a positive test for marijuana in 2003 and a positive test for marijuana and cocaine in 2005, this week's NASCAR Scene reports.

Hmiel was suspended by NASCAR from September 2003 to January 2004 for the first failed test and then indefinitely after the second failed test in late May 2005. He was "suspended for life" after a third failed test, which was announced in February 2006.

NASCAR does not reveal the drugs that a driver tests positive for. In interviews after he returned from the first suspension, Hmiel declined to identify the drug he tested positive for.

The admissions came in a filing in Hmiel's lawsuit against Busch Series team owner Todd Braun. Hmiel wants his paycheck for the time he drove for Braun in 2005 up until the time he was suspended in June 2005.

According to the complaint, Hmiel says he is owed $135,513 for the races he drove and another $135,513 for bad faith dealings by Braun.

As part of the lawsuit process, Hmiel had to answer questions from Braun, and those answers were filed last month in North Carolina court. Braun alleges that Hmiel knowingly and fraudulently signed a contract without revealing his physical condition.

To prove that, Braun's attorneys asked for Hmiel to submit answers to pointed questions. In those answers, Hmiel admitted to using illegal drugs. He admitted that he "may have used marijuana on a regular basis" prior to September 2003, when he failed the first NASCAR test. He denied he was using drugs on a regular basis (at least once a week) in 2005.

Braun asked if Hmiel had tested positive for heroin at any time from 2003-2005, and Hmiel denied that he had.

In the filing, Hmiel attests that he was not under the influence of any drug at any time while he was racing, although admits the drugs were in his system.

1st: this, the Mayfield thing sounds like back in the early 90s when they were spreading a rumor around the Dale Earnhardt was having an affair with Childress's daughter to try and throw a wrench between those two. that type of rumor is so easy to start and yet so hard to prove but anything makes it look like it is going on

2nd: what an idiot Shane is just for useing the stuff. not while your driving you idiot. if he can't stop that while working then he will never hold a job bcause everyone tests now a days. why do you think they call it dope?

1st: this, the Mayfield thing sounds like back in the early 90s when they were spreading a rumor around the Dale Earnhardt........

I don't know about this being a rumor on Evernham, Joe. Read this article at Fox Sports.

Ryan McGee / FOXSports.com
Posted: 6 hours ago

Something very quiet yet very major happened in the NASCAR world this week. It took place in a North Carolina courtroom one week ago, but the facts didn't make their way out into public until this Wednesday.

Jeremy Mayfield filed a court injunction to stop his firing by car owner Ray Evernham. In the driver's affidavit, Mayfield claimed that he had become frustrated by his team's poor performance and attributed it "largely because" of Evernham's "close personal relationship...with a female driver he engages to drive on NASCAR's ARCA, Truck and Busch Series teams."

For the record, Evernham only employs one female driver — Erin Crocker.

Erin Crocker and Ray Evernham (Rusty Jarrett / Getty Images)

NASCAR fans that paid close enough attention this summer probably weren't surprised. With each passing week, Mayfield seemed to creep closer and closer to spelling it out despite a collected effort to ignore the elephant in the room... make that the pachyderm in the paddock.

To anyone making a living inside the NASCAR garage, from drivers to media members, this bombshell was a pop cap. As anyone in that Iredell County courtroom could plainly read: "Their relationship became a subject of considerable discussion and distraction in the Nextel Cup garage areas during the 2006 season."

So why is this revelation such a big deal?

It is the latest sign that the long-standing bulkhead of privacy surrounding America's fastest sport is beginning to erode, just as it has in every other major league arena.

The fedora-wearing beat writers who traveled with the New York Yankees back in the day fiercely protected Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle's wild ways. Had Babe and The Mick played in 2006, we would be watching an exposé on Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel comparing them to John Daly and Steve Howe. Hard partying wideout Max McGee was the hero of Super Bowl I. Had he played in Super Bowl XL, he would have found the pages of Sports Illustrated under the headline "Drunk in the Big Game."

Likewise, the hammer-down personal lives of NASCAR heroes have long been guarded by the people around them. The lieutenants of this D-line have always been the competitors themselves, clinging to an unspoken code considered even more sacred than the mysterious yet precious on-track gentleman's agreements.

But the Evernham-Mayfield incident has the potential to change the game. The quest for new money brings new machismo. And like the spousal argument that escalates to revealing how both sides "really feel," once the words have escaped and the damage is done, they can't be taken back. You can't unscramble an egg, put water back in a faucet or forget the most hurtful words you ever heard about yourself.

This is the price of being granted admittance to the big room of becoming a truly major league sport. You want network coverage? You have to let the cameras in behind the yellow rope. You want the New York Times to cover your events? You have to be ready to answer uncomfortable questions... even if they focus more on your poor performance at home than the poor performance of your ride.

Mayfield got an early taste of that sting when NBC Sports covered its first Winston Cup event, the November '99 event at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. Brian Williams, Tom Brokaw's heir apparent and admitted race fan, made a seemingly harmless on-air comment about Jeremy's devotion to girlfriend, Shana. Problem was, Mayfield was in the middle of negotiating a divorce settlement and didn't exactly want to publicize his new love interest.

Jeff Gordon's life was barged in on at Darlington in the spring of 2002, when he was greeted at the track by an army of reporters seeking reaction to that morning's USA Today report that he and wife Brooke had filed for divorce. NASCAR itself spent the entire previous season feeling violated as the national news media demanded daily updates on the progress of its Dale Earnhardt accident investigation. Never before had someone else dared dictate the pace of operations in Daytona. Then again, the Wall Street Journal had never been a regular visitor to the infield media center.

So, is it right or is it wrong? Are NASCAR personalities entering an age of US magazine and Barbara Walters-ish questions about their love lives? Have they traded cinder block shop walls for a glass house?

Only this is for sure — if the audience demands such information, it shall be delivered. And that means one thing and one thing only.